Assessment of the Level of Digital Technologies Penetration in Bulgaria after Covid-19 Outbreak

Abstract

The emergence of COVID-19 has had a strong negative impact not only on the health systems in the countries, but also on the global economy. As a result of implemented national lockdowns many businesses and households transitioned online. Thus, the digital transformation that has been underway for decades was accelerated significantly. The state of emergency in Bulgaria has also led to an acceleration of the digitalization processes in the country. The main goal of the paper is to assess the level of digital technologies penetration in Bulgaria after the COVID-19 outbreak. The main conclusion of the paper is that although the country is making progress in the digitalization processes, there is still a large lag relative to the average European levels.